In a surprise decision, the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission unanimously awarded Pittsburgh’s… In a surprise decision, the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission unanimously awarded Pittsburgh’s only slot license to Don Barden, the head of PITG Gaming LLC, crushing Pittsburgh Penguins fans’ hopes of keeping our team in town.

Barden’s bid, which proposes the construction of a casino on the North Shore by early 2008, was chosen over the Penguin-supported Isle of Capri plan, which planned to develop a casino in the Hill District and pledged $290 million to the construction of a new arena for the Penguins.

With the loss of the Isle of Capri bid and a lease ending in June, the prospects for keeping the Pens in Pittsburgh are beginning to look gloomy. Rumors of a possible relocation to Kansas City or Houston are already surfacing.

While the Gaming Commission justified that Barden’s bid had the best site and the best application, fallout has begun among Pittsburgh Penguin fans who claim that choosing Barden was a move to bring more minority business owners into the city.

In addition to the lost prospect of a new arena, the decision to develop on the North Shore, which already houses Heinz Field and PNC Park, over the Hill District will be problematic for the city.

The North Shore is already highly developed, and the construction of a new casino will be hard on the infrastructure of the area. Parking has been a problem on the North Shore since the city chose to remove Three Rivers Stadium and develop two separate stadiums in 2001. Now, the area, which is only accessible by a handful of roads, will be even more densely developed.

While some Pittsburghers worried that bringing gambling to the Hill District would only deteriorate the neighborhood, it is highly unlikely that the introduction of slot machines would bring a gambling problem into the already struggling area. Slot machines are a comparatively innocuous form of gambling, and chances are that anyone struggling with gambling will do so through other channels, whether or not a casino is developed.

In an emergency response to the Gaming Commission’s decision, Pennsylvania elected officials and Pittsburgh leaders are developing proposals to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh. One of the proposals, Plan B, suggests that PITG Gaming give $7.5 million a year for 30 years to help pay for the new arena. The remaining costs of the arena would be offset by taxpayers and the Penguins, if they choose to stay.

The rejection of the Isle of Capri bid puts the Penguins in a precarious position, as they now must make the decision between paying for a new arena in Pittsburgh and moving the team to a new city.

And if they choose to relocate, the loss of the Penguins would be sad news for Pittsburgh – not only because of the loss of a talented team – but also because of the money and culture that the Penguins bring to the city.

Finally, as the oldest arena in the NHL and one of the oldest in the country, it is inevitable that the Mellon Arena will eventually be replaced at another time, at the expense of the taxpayers and without a hockey team to support it financially.

Pittsburgh must now face the challenge of working to keep the Penguins in our city, but we must also face the possibility that the casino decision might have initiated the end of their stay in Pittsburgh.